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Greens leader Richard Di Natale said it was another example of the government making life harder for young people.

"It is no secret that young people are getting royally screwed over by this older generation of LNP politicians," Senator Di Natale told parliament on Tuesday.

The government will have to win crossbench support for the student loan reforms with Labor and the Greens opposed.

In March, Centre Alliance, which controls two Senate votes, signalled it could support the tweaked package.

Labor senator Murray Watt said the government was paying for company tax cuts by slashing education funding.

"Right now it's students in universities who are in the gun for this government, but it really doesn't matter what type of young person you are in this country - you are in the sights of this government," Senator Watt said.

The move to cut the HECS-HELP threshold was flagged in December's mid-year budget update, with the amount lower than the $42,000 originally outlined in the 2017 budget.